Gamma

A mobile networking platform for makers and artists.

My Role

UX designer, researcher and full stack developer leading the design, research and development of the dedicated mobile app from conception to delivery.

Responsibilities

Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, iterating on designs, determining information architecture, frontend and backend development for native Apple and Android apps.

Target Audience

College students and working professionals who have field specific skills or ideas.

Background

Gamma is a mobile first platform offering users the opportunity to collaborate on projects in various fields. The prevalence of smartphones, social media and search engines as well as success stories of founders from around the world has led to an increase in demand for the ability to search for collaborators, jobs and business opportunities in a secure, easy to navigate platform for students and professionals who are unsure of the next steps to take to bring their ideas and ambitions to life.

Problem

U.S. statistics indicate that a little over 50% of workers are satisfied with their jobs and around 20% are passionate about their work. over 61% of individuals in the U.S. also answered that they have ambitions of opening their own business or pursuing their own ideas. Meanwhile, statistics from other countries indicate that more than half of all workers are unsatisfied with their jobs and desire more fulfilling work. Despite these numbers, most workers do not stray from their paths due to one or a combination of factors like limited or no network connections, financial constraints, limited skills/knowledge, etc.

User Research

Using statistics collected from various research institutions about the global workforce, I prepared questions for user interviews. 8 participants ranging in age, ethnicity, social status, education level, job experience and gender were selected to participate.

Most participants reported that they dream of pursuing their own projects but lack several resources or confidence. Two participants answered that they had started on the path, but had to stop because they were unable to find the right people to join their team. These interviews led to the conclusion that users want to pursue their ideas, but need a platform that will allow them to easily and cost efficiently find the resources they need in the process.

The interviews were followed with a 10 question user survey distributed to 100 participants asking them about their ambitions, insecurities and opinions on using a mobile platform for these purposes. The survey consisted of multiple choice options with a final short answer form. The conclusions made from the user interviews were confirmed by the surveys, allowing me determine the main goal and critical pain points for potential users.

User Pain Points

1

Ideas are sensitive and trade secret. There needs to be a reliable way to secure confidentiality and protect users’ ideas from being stolen, misused or altered.

Security

2

It is hard to trust people online, users need to be able to form realistic ideas of who they are communicating with and their professional capabilities.

Trust

3

There needs to be a standard or guarantee of the quality of work that will be completed. Users need to clearly set a standard and need a safety net to ensure that standard is met and promises are upheld.

Quality

4

The cost of pursuing personal projects can be more than anticipated. Users need clear price indications, discounts and negotiation opportunities.

Cost

Personas

Anna is a 53 year old CFO who enjoys oceanology. While she devotes most of her day to her job and family, she wants to find ways to get involved with the oceanology community in her spare time. Anna is a typical user who is searching for a passion project.

Sam is a 25 year old student who has always dreamed of launching a line of lifestyle products meant for use on different planets. While he is studying to achieve his goal, he lacks the right community to form a collective and bring his ideas to life.

Sam is a typical user who is searching for other users to help him with his projects.

Key Challenges

  1. Building a design and database that gains user trust and successfully keeps their data protected.

  2. Constructing a storage option that does not make the app bulky or become too expensive to maintain while upholding speed and quality.

  3. Coming up with a design that allows users to determine the quality and trustworthiness of other projects or users.

Develop a secure, reliable and easy to navigate app where users can post their ideas, find the right individuals to bring their ideas to life, or find projects that they can help build. In app NDAs and general legal documents allow users to share sensitive information and build partnerships within project pages while being at ease about security and IP concerns.

The Goal

Competitive Audit

Competitive audit thumbnail

I completed a competitive audit of three direct competitors Fiverr, Freelancer, and Upwork alongside an indirect competitor, LinkedIn. The audit revealed the opportunity to improve on existing designs by expanding the number of languages available, as well as our unique approach of in-app resume builders, tokens and gamified factors to increase in-app work. View the report by clicking here or on the image.

Ideation

I used the crazy eights ideation method to come up with sample screens for the project and profile pages, incorporating results from user interviews and personas as well as the gaps identified from the competitive audit of direct and indirect competitors.

Token design, ease of adding to projects and resumes, visually appealing organization of information and text were my main goal.

Low Fidelity Designs

After the ideation phase, I put together paper wireframes from the features I highlighted in the crazy eights exercise. The paper wireframes were then digitized in Sketch and prepared as a usable low-fidelity prototype for usability testing.

User Testing

Study Type

Unmoderated usability study

Location

Global, remote

Participants

5

Length

30-60 minutes

I conducted two rounds of usability studies. The first was done with a low-fidelity prototype and helped build the base for the mockup designs. The second study was conducted with the first iteration of the high-fidelity prototype.

Findings

Round 1 Findings

  1. Users want easy scrolling to look through projects easily.

  2. Detailed filters are needed to scroll through specific projects or collaborators without unnecessary information.

  3. Easy connection to resumes so users’ work can be visible on their professional documents.

Round 2 Findings

  1. An organized feed for projects. Users want a way to see everything that’s going on in a project and what each person is doing/has done.

  2. Tokens should be integrated and explained on resumes.

High Fidelity Designs

Using the insights gained from the usability study, I integrated a “hub” into each project page where users can see exactly what each participant has submitted or signed up for in a project.

Resume templates, project integration and reference profiles were also added to allow users to build a complete resume within the app.

In depth filters and minimalistic scrolling were also integrated into the design to prevent the overcrowding of information and make the search process seamless.

Forum design where users can post articles or pose questions on a variety of topics.

As per user request, the document/file upload process was simplified through minimalistic design and step by step procedures to prevent clutter and confusion.

User profiles and resumes are easy to view and interact with.

Contribution and innovation tokens come with user stats that are incorporated into profiles and resumes to boost users’ credentials.

Innovation tokens are earned when a user starts a project while contribution tokens are awarded to users by admins of projects based on their work.

View and accept collaboration requests on your profile page.

Catalog of projects and users that’s easy and intuitive to look through or save without the need to click into the profile or project page.

Filters make it easy to narrow down search criteria.

Minimal design for starting a project makes it easy to gather the necessary information to start a new project.

Branding

The name Gamma was inspired by the Lorentz factor in special relativity. Gamma represents how physical factors like time and space change around a moving object. In this case, users are gaining the momentum they need to bring their ideas to life as time and space changes around them with their efforts and projection forward.

Accessibility Considerations

  1. All colors follow WCAG standards.

  2. The platform is available in multiple languages.

  3. Ready to use documents and text blocks to simplify communication.

Impact

The resume feature simplified the process of adding quality experience on users’ resumes by cutting down on cost, travel and time. International teams and the number of passion projects shared led to an increase resume content and user happiness in finding and attaining desired job positions.

“The hardest part in starting something you’re passionate about, is finding the right community. Because, without the support, it’s so easy to burn out and never reach your potential.“ -Anonymous user

What I Learned

The Gamma app required large amounts of cloud storage options and security guarantees for users. Integrating these features into the design was the main challenge. I worked through several iterations to find designs for content layout, profiles and project descriptions that would not burden our database and made users feel guaranteed and secure. The most vital component for this project was the user feedback. I completed several user surveys and usability studies to find out how users felt in each step of the way. This project enhanced my skills as a UX researcher, I learned that in order to achieve the best results for a content heavy platform, feedback, testing and iterating on designs are critical factors.

Tools used: Sketch

Thank You

Thank you for your interest in my work on Gamma. For more details or questions on the project or to get in touch regarding your own project, please feel free to contact me using the link below.